Assurance of Salvation

 Hello everybody, my name is Dean Davis, and this is “Multiply,” the podcast that

provides a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

I spoke today with a brother serving Christ in a West African country. He told

me that he had asked over 1,000 people if they knew where they would spend

eternity after they died. Of the 1,000 people he asked, many of whom

attended church each Sunday, only seven reported that they knew they would

live eternally with Christ because of what He had done for them. The rest

reported that they were not sure where they would spend eternity or that they

knew, in fact, that they would spend eternity in hell. My brother was quite

concerned that many who were going to church did not have assurance of

salvation in Christ.

So, my word of encouragement today is that we can live in this broken world

knowing for sure that we are children of God, joint heirs with Christ, forgiven,

justified believers who have a new and eternal life in Christ. We need not fear

death or hell.

I found assurance of salvation when I was 13 years old. I have lived in that

assurance for the last 55 years. Here is how I found it. I told a brother in Christ

that I wasn’t sure that I was a Christian. He opened his Bible to 1 John 5:10 and

read these words to me:

Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not

believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the

testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given

us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever

does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Then the brother asked me, “Dean, do you have the Son of God in your life?” I

thought for a moment and then I said, “Yes. I have trusted Jesus as my Savior.

He lives in me.”

Then the brother read again from 1 John 5:11, 12: “God has given us eternal

life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life.” Next, he asked,

Dean, do people who have the Son of God in their lives have eternal life? I said,

“Yes.” Then he asked me, “Do you have eternal life?” I said, “Yes, I have Jesus;

I have eternal life.” Then the brother confidently told me, “Dean, you can go

from this place and never doubt that you are a child of God, a Christian who

has eternal life.” And do you know what? I did go from that place with full

assurance that I am a child of God and that I have eternal life. I have

experienced many fears since that time. But I have never been afraid of going

to hell or being separated from Jesus. I have him, and He has me.

Do you have assurance of salvation in Jesus Christ? You can. Do your disciples

have assurance of salvation in Jesus Christ? They can too. Please, without

delay, share with them the wonderful truth about the assurance of salvation from

God’s word is found in 1John 5:10-12.

I’m Dean Davis, praying for a church in every African village, and that each

person in those churches will live daily with full assurance of the saving

presence of Christ in them, the hope of glory.

#EncouragementForVillageChurchPlanters #AssuranceOfSalvation